Self-Love Series Day 6: Bianca
What does self-love mean to you?
Self-love is knowing who you are (the good, the bad and the ugly), accepting it, loving it, respecting it and requiring others to respect it as well. It is not placing your value in the hands of someone else's; self-worth is not contingent upon the ability of someone else to see the light in you. It is being unapologetic about who you are and encouraging others to do the same. Loving yourself means coming to terms with your imperfections and seeing beauty in them. Self-love is all about being confident in yourself and having the courage to become the best version of yourself. Self-love is understanding that you are worthy of being loved just as you are. Self-love isn’t self-sabotage.
How is that expressed in your life now?
I practice self-love by being unapologetically me, protecting my peace and by indulging myself in positive affirmations. This society that has been consumed with insecurities, hate and jealously has created an atmosphere of conformity. As someone that practices self-love, I appreciate the uniqueness in myself and others. I don’t long for acceptance from others. I protect my peace by not entertaining drama and not allowing people in my life that have once before drained my spirit. I cannot be at peace when I am constantly around negative, uninspired people so make it a priority to surround myself with beautiful minds. Lastly, I am my biggest fan. I do not wait around for someone else to compliment me. I push myself and hold myself accountable while not beating myself up when I fall. I express my self-love by riding my life of shame. Positive affirmations from myself have helped to live a shameless lifestyle.
What advice would you give to others on a self-love journey?
Loving yourself comes in three steps.
Step 1: Loving the way that you look.--- Understand who God is; he is the creator of all things and all that he does is beautiful. When you understand that He created YOU to be magnificent, you will begin to see the beauty in yourself. Take the time to look at yourself from head to toe and find something to thank God about. This will help you learn to accept and appreciate the body that has been given to you. Embrace what you cannot change, be honest about who you are and work to improve what you have the ability to change. Ultimately, you cannot love what you do not see beauty in.
Step 2: Be committed to self-improvement. --- There is no way you can become the best version of yourself if you aren’t willing to change. The journey to self-love and becoming at peace with yourself is painful. It hurts to endure the “pruning” stage. This is when it is time to face your
demons in order to heal them. A wound cannot heal if it is covered up. Come out from behind whatever it is that you may be hiding from find a way to deal with it. Find scriptures that you can read that will help you deal with your specific issues and pray about it. Continue down a path of self improvement. Be committed to becoming a healthier and happier version of yourself. This means that you make a conscious effort to maintain not only your physical health, but the mental as well.
Step 3: Get rid of dead weight.--- Simply put, when you know better you do better. Now that you love and value yourself as God intended, it is time to get rid of anything in your life that does not. Evaluate all of the relationships in your life and ask yourself is it draining or uplifting you. If someone in your life never speaks life into you and shows through their actions that they don’t value you, let them go. When you let go of this dead weight, you are making space for the right things to come into your life. Love yourself enough to know when it’s time to walk away from a person or a situation. Holding on only tells God that you don’t trust him enough to give you something better than what it is you’re losing.